to be lashed to the boats. Arnold's party fell among the rapids. Three
of the boats were overset, dashed to pieces against the rocks and their
contents swallowed up by the waves. Six men struggled for some time in
the water, but were saved. That accident turned out to be a lucky one,
for no sooner had the men dried their clothes and re-embarked, than one
of them, who had gone forward, cried out 'a fall ahead,' and thus the
whole party was saved from destruction. Soon after we entered the
Chaudière we worked round several falls and kept clear of the rapids for
a while; but it couldn't last. We lost boats here and there, till we
hadn't enough to carry the men and what baggage we had with us, and so
we took to the land, and began our march through the woods along the
banks of the river. Now a kind of suffering began, which we hadn't
dreamed of when we started, but which we had been expecting before we
lost our boats. We had to drag ourselves along, over rocks and ravines
and through thick underwood, with starvation staring us in the face. I
had never been a hearty feeder, and could bear the want of provisions
better than those in good health and who had accustomed themselves to
cramming. But poor Johnson fainted several times on the march, and
O'Brien suffered more than he would tell. Every thing eatable was at
length entirely used. Several dogs, generally favourites of their
owners, had been killed and entirely devoured, even to the entrails.
O'Brien, Johnson and myself boiled our moccasins, to see if any
nourishment could be drawn from the deer-skin. But the skins were dry.
It seemed as if we were doomed to starvation. No game of any kind
appeared, and even the eatable roots were not to be found. I remember
seeing a party of men, Johnson among them, discover a well-known root in
the sand and rush for it as if it had been a diamond. The man who got it
devoured it instantly, though at any other time it would have made him
sick."